I'm a recent graduate of the Army's Black Hawk course located in Palm Beach County, FL. I also currently hold my FDLE LEO certification, though I'm not currently employed as one.

If my goal was to ultimately fly for a local (Palm Beach, Martin or Broward County) law enforcement agency, is there anything that I could do to accelerate that dream coming to fruition outside of choosing one and spending an indefinite amount of time on the road for the chance at being taken in?

"is there anything that I could do to accelerate that dream coming to fruition outside of choosing one and spending an indefinite amount of time on the road for the chance at being taken in?"

I am not local to you and there are guys here with way more time / experience than me. However, that is the only way that I know to get on with any LE agency. If you want to be the police and a pilot, you have to be the police first. Put your time in and maybe you can get over to the air unit with your training and experience as a pilot. Unless you want to find an agency that hires civilian pilots and go that route.

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it" - The only thing we can control is our attitude.

How much time do you have? Couple hundred hours? The issue is to get in with low time, you'll probably need to be a deputy with any of the 3 you named. To get into a pilot you'll have to apply should they ever specifically recruit for a pilot. To be competitive for that, you'll need the usual hours and experience. If I were you, I'd look at FWC.

How much time do you have? Couple hundred hours? The issue is to get in with low time, you'll probably need to be a deputy with any of the 3 you named. To get into a pilot you'll have to apply should they ever specifically recruit for a pilot. To be competitive for that, you'll need the usual hours and experience. If I were you, I'd look at FWC.

Yeah, just shy of 200hrs. Relocation isn't an option so the only agencies I'm aware of with aviation units are the (3) SO's I mentioned. It was suggested to me to try and get on as a TFO upon conclusion of my probationary period until I was able to build up enough hours to function as a pilot.

They do, but an area like that you wouldn't start in as a pilot. FWCs pilots over there have been on for a while. With the state you come on and go to the vacancy. Palm Beach I can guarantee isn't going to have a pilot vacancy. A tfo is a position for a street cop You'll never get hired as a tfo. It's a special assignment. I'm pretty familiar with this particular air units. I'll just come right out and say your plan isn't going to work. I'd say to be a tfo in any of those units you'll need several years on to apply. And keep in mind, there are deputies applying to be tfo's who probably already have their commercials or CFIs because they've been wanting that spot for a long time.

I've seen more and more units posting for pilot positions. The kicker for most of them is that you must be law enforcement certified or able to transfer your cert from another state. So the commercial pilot + LEO cert DQ's a lot of people.

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it" - The only thing we can control is our attitude.